The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and, more particularly, to conveyors and methods for controlling the gap between consecutive articles, such as packages, conveyed in a single file.
In some conveyor applications, it is important to control the spacing, or gap, between the tail end of a leading package and the head end of a trailing package. If the gaps are too great, throughput is decreased. If the gaps are too small, consecutive packages interfere with each other at downstream processing or sorting locations. Controlling these gaps is especially difficult when the packages vary in size, shape, or orientation. Thus, there is a need for a conveyor that can control the spacing between consecutive packages.